Friday, January 01, 2010

Chesa Swiss Restaurant

I am not sure; but I think Chesa is the only real authentic Swiss restaurant in Bangkok. AND, we love it. We have going to Chesa for years. The place has a strong following with foreigners and Thais. The Swiss chef and owner has been also been there since the beginning. He does amazing things with meats.

The decor has not changed much over the years; but it is still a comfortable and cozy place to meet friends for dinner. The only problem is that when people order fondue or raclette (I never understood how people can eat that kind of heavy dishes in 30 degree weather. I always associate eating fondue & raclette in 0 degree weather on top of the Swiss mountains.), the dinning room starts to smell like cheese or oil and you leave smelling like it to.

The first dish was mache salad. One of my favourite salads. It is very rare to get mache in Bangkok. but we know where to go when we are in the mood for a mache salad. The salad is topped with freshly fried lardons and chopped hard boiled eggs. A very simple dish but truly yummy.

The second dish was home made fois gras. The chef really knows what he is doing. The fois gras was solid, yet once you put some on bread and put it into your mouth, it just melts. Rich, creamy and delicious.

The third dish was a mix of Swiss dried meats. Everytime, I eat these meats, I always have a nostalgia attack of eating Swiss meats in a chalet high up in the Swiss mountains. The good old days. Oh sorry, back to the dried meats. They were very good.

The fourth dish was home made raviolli stuffed with spinach. The raviollis were very nice, the skin was not too thick and the filling was tasty. The sauce was dense, creamy, rich and I am very sure very bad for my cholesterol. But, the dish was hearty and delicious.

The fifth dish was wild deer stew 'hirsch pfeffer'. The main reason why we always go to Chesa is because the chef always has rare meats that others restaurant do not serve. We love venison and Chesa always does it right. The venison can have a gamey taste that some people do not like; but for us, its very good. The venison was tender and tasted amazing. If done wrong, the venison could dry out and be very tough, like any other meat. The sauce was a rich and thick wine & meat sauce. Another rare thing to get in Bangkok is brussel sprouts, and at Chesa they come with every dish. You can get your over dose of brussel sprouts, sauteed red cabbage and boletus mushrooms at Chesa. This dish was great. Another favourite of mine (not in photo) is Chesa's speatzle. No other restaurant does it like they do. I can eat that stuff by the kilo. I always order them for my side order instead of pasta or potato.

The sixth dish was grilled lamb fillets. This time just pan fried to perfection with a rich meaty gravy. The chef does it again by having the best raw material. Chesa's lamb is so tender and juicy. You do not even need the gravy because the lamb is so good. Again we can overdose with brussel sprouts and red cabbage.

The seventh dish was grille wild hare fillet. A rare thing to get in Bangkok and we took the advantage of having it even though we knew we oredered too much (we ate everything by the way). Hare can be very dry when cooked. But at Chesa; they know how to cook their meats. The fillet was tender (but not as tender as the lamb), and tasted very good.

Overall; a great place to go when you want simple and hearty food; especially Swiss food. We have been going to Chesa for years and we consistently get delicious food & rare meats. We are happy to have a place we can count on for good servcie & good food. It is not cheap but at the same time it is not expensive (compared to the steak houses in Bangkok, this place is a bargain).